(un)published

I must be a true adventure reader.  Or, perhaps I was influenced by Larry McMurtry, who was not only a great writer, he was also a great reader.  In fact, books were his passion ;  the reading, buying and selling of them, occupied essentially all of his adult life.  This is the central theme of his memoir, appropriately titled Books (Simon and Schuster, 2008).  In Books ( chapter 62), Larry McMurtry writes:  "For most of my fifties, what I read for pleasure was travel writing, and the book that introduced me to the pleasures of inspired travel writing was called Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan" (1845-1924), originally published in 1871 by S. Low, Son & Marston and reprinted in 1986 by Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.  Larry McMurtry wrote the introduction to the reprinted edition of Tent Life in Siberia .   Larry McMurtry died in March 2021 and in 2024 I went through a Larry McMurtry reading phase that gave me pleasure and comfort.  Almost ce...

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, New York, © 2025. I have just finished reading.  Knowing I wanted to write this review, this morning, while waiting my turn in the ophthalmologist's exam room, I read the NYT's glowing review  from September 14, 2025 on my phone.  Then I read some of the 81 commenters mixed reviews.  Some abandoned the book almost from the start, others read through but did not like it and, finally, there were those who loved it.  Regardless of the category commenters fell into, many made interesting and insightful observations.  The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is that kind of book. Full disclosure, I have no particular literary expertise that credentials me to write this review.  I'm much more comfortable reviewing field guides and the like—although some might argue that I have no particular expertise there either.  What I do have is that I am a reader who loved this book. ...